A journalist, who saw one of the men being hauled away to his doom, said later: “He didn’t cry out, just looked at us with terrified eyes.”

Suspected of being SAS members, the two men were stripped, beaten and tortured, thrown over a high wall and finally stabbed and shot dead. The two — who, far from being elite SAS men, were signallers — had fired one warning shot in a vain attempt to keep the crowd away, but did not hurt anybody.

Horrific ... Father Alec Reid administers the last rites to Corporal Derek Howes, one of two soldiers beaten and murdered by the IRA. Father Reid was hailed for his bravery, trying to save and offer comfort to the men in the face of threats from their killers.Source: Supplied

Their deaths were the culmination of a fortnight of revenge killings, the so-called “tit-for-tat” murders that became one of most gruesome milestones of the Troubles — the 30-year conflict that began in 1968 and ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Put simply, the Protestant majority wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. The goal of the nationalist and republican minority, almost exclusively Catholic, was to form a united Ireland with the Republic. Both sides unleashed terror in the form of paramilitaries.

The toll of this territorial war is almost beyond comprehension. At least 3,600 people died and as many as 50,000 were physically maimed with countless others left psychologically damaged. Some of the deaths remain at least partially shrouded in mystery — and they have been hauled back into the headlines with the recent arrest of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

Close links to horror ... controversial key Repulicans Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams at the funeral of IRA bomber Kevin Brady in 1988 — minutes before Michael Stone launched the deadly attack that led to the coporals’ killing. Picture: AUSTRALSCOPE/REXSource: Supplied

What made the 1988 murders of Corporals Wood and Howes even more horrific was the fact that the unsuspecting soldiers just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

The nightmare began two weeks earlier on March 6, 1988, when three unarmed IRA members – Danny McCann, Sean Savage and Maired Lynch — were shot dead by members of the UK’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar.

The trio had been planning a bomb attack on the British governor’s residence but MI5 got wind of their plan and SAS was sent to the British territory, south of Spain, to prevent the bombings.

Deadly attack ... the Milltown Cemetery massacre was caught on film. Smoke from Stone’s grenades can be seen in this grainy shot.Source: YouTube

The funerals were held at Belfast’s Milltown Cemetery, off the Falls Road, on March 16. To avoid confrontation, security forces agreed to suspend their usual policy of heavy and close policing of terrorist funerals.

Unionist killer Michael Stone, acting alone, decided to take “revenge” for the IRA’s Remembrance Sunday bombing in the town of Enniskillen in 1987, which had killed 11 people and injured 63.

Using two pistols and several hand grenades in a commando-style assault, Stone killed three people in Milltown cemetery — including an IRA man called Kevin Brady — and wounded around 60 before being chased and overpowered by mourners then arrested by police.

Fanatical killer ... Michael Stone was jailed after the funeral attack, then freed under the Good Friday Agreement that restored peace to Northern Ireland. He was finally jailed again for attempting to enter parliament buildings at Stormont while armed (above).Source: Getty Images

On the day of Kevin Brady’s funeral, the unfortunate British soldiers Howes and Wood stumbled onto the IRA funeral cortege and ended up paying the ultimate price — wrong place, wrong time.

Tragically, countless lives were destroyed by the “tit-for-tat” mentality and blind sectarianism that spurred the atrocities of the Troubles.

EVERYDAY LIFE ... AND DEATH

Shooting massacres and random bombings became a part of everyday life in the province. The list is endless but some stand out for their deliberate evil.

The Kingsmill massacre: twelve workmen travelling on a mini-bus were pulled over by a gang of republican gunmen near the village of Kingsmill in January 1976. They were ordered to line up beside the bus and told to reveal their religion. The eleven Protestant workmen were shot dead, their Catholic workmate left unscathed.

The Miami Showband killings: five men – including three members of one of Ireland’s most popular cabaret band – were gunned down by so-called Protestant “loyalists” in a late-night attack in 1975. The band had been travelling back to Dublin from a gig in Banbridge when they stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint but was actually a trap set by the paramilitaries.

The Shankhill Road bombing: three generations of one family wiped out after an IRA bomb exploded in a fish and chip shop in 1993. The IRA had intended to assassinate loyalist leaders who were set to meet in a room above the shop. But when the terrorists, disguised as delivery men, entered the shop, their bomb exploded prematurely. Ten people — including one of the bombers — died and 57 were injured.

EVIL ON BOTH SIDES

One of the worst atrocities became known as the “Trick or Treat” murders.

Eight people were shot dead when a loyalist gang opened fire at a Halloween party inside the Rising Sun bar in the tiny County Londonderry village of Greysteel on October 30, 1993.

Customers in the bar at first thought it was a Halloween prank as the gunmen shouted “trick or treat” before opening fire.

Evil ... remorseless killer Torrens Knight is dragged screaming from court after being charged for his role in the Greysteel massacre.Source: Supplied

The loyalist gang had shot dead four workmen in the town of Castlerock in seven months earlier. The horrifying images of gloating killer Torrens Knight screaming abuse and laughing as he was dragged from court symbolised the raw and senseless sectarianism of the Troubles. Knight – who cackled as he received 12 life sentences for his part in the massacre — served just seven years for the murders after being freed in 2000 under the Good Friday Agreement’s early release program.

Throughout the conflict, the IRA – and brutal fellow republican group, the Irish National Liberation Army – committed the majority of crimes.

The Miami Showband killings: five men – including three members of one of Ireland’s most popular cabaret band – were gunned down in 1975.Source: Supplied

But during the early 1990s, two loyalist paramilitary groups — the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) — drastically increased their attacks on the Catholic community and were responsible for more deaths than republicans. The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), a smaller breakaway movement, was formed after the larger groups called ceasefires.

BRUTAL PUNISHMENTS

During the Troubles, republican and loyalist paramilitaries ruled their communities with fear and considered themselves to be law enforcers.

Those who stepped out of line — the thieves, the drug dealers — were subjected to punishment beatings and “kneecappings”.

Victims of these attacks were beaten with bats or had bullets fired into their shins, thighs and ankles.

Most never walked again and spent their lives in a wheelchair, while others were left with a permanent limp.

THE DISAPPEARED

The arrest and release of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams over the murder of Jean McConville has brought the story of the IRA’s “Disappeared” back into the public eye.

The search still goes on daily for the 16 people who were abducted, murdered and buried by Republican paramilitaries in remote locations.

Battle for justice ... Helen McKendry, the eldest daughter of murdered woman Jean McConville, with a family photograph.Source: AFP

Mrs McConville was one of these victims — dragged screaming from her home, never to be seen again, her ten children left to somehow fend for themselves. She was beaten and shot in the head before her body was thrown into an unmarked grave.

The IRA’s claim that Mrs McConville was a police informer was dismissed after an official investigation by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman.

KILLING FROM A DISTANCE

One of the most horrific aspects of the Troubles — mainly due to the fear they struck in the heart of everyday citizens — was the mass bombings.

Shopping centre blasts and car bombings kept a nation gripped in a culture of fear. Bomb threats could be a daily occurrence but the threat was all too real.

Aftermath .. the Omagh bombing claimed the lives of 29 people and injured about 220 - the highest death toll from a single incident during the Troubles.Source: AP

The worst incident was the bombing of the Omagh town centre in August 1998, an atrocity that was carried out by the Real IRA, a splinter group who opposed the IRA’s ealier ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement.

The car bombing claimed the lives of 29 people and injured about 220 — the highest death toll from a single incident during the Troubles.

On August 27, 1979, the Queen’s cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was murdered by IRA killers who planted bomb in his fishing boat in County Sligo, close to the Northern Ireland border.

One of the earl’s twin grandsons, 14-year-old Nicholas, and Paul Maxwell, 15, a local employed as a boat boy, also died in the explosion.

Grief ... Prince Charles speaks at the funeral of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was killed by the IRA.Source: AP

Hours later, 18 British Army soldiers were killed when the IRA detonated two massive roadside bombs in Warrenpoint, County Down.

Other atrocities included the Enniskillen bombing, in 1987, and the bombing of McGurk’s Bar in 1971.

The IRA’s attack on a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen killed 11 people — ten civilians and one policeman.

The 1971 bombing in McGurk’s Bar in north Belfast — carried out by the UVF in 1971 — killed 15 people.

The shootings of two soldiers outside their barracks in Antrim in March 2009 was the work of the Real IRA. Another group, the Continuity IRA, claimed responsibility for the killing of policeman Stephen Carroll, who was shot after responding to a call-out in Craigavon, county Armagh.

Together with a third group, Oglaigh na hEireann (Warriors of Ireland), they are the most dangerous offshoots of the Provisional IRA, and are largely made up of IRA veterans who were active during the Troubles.

They have posed a serious threat to security ever since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.

The support of the IRA and loyalist terror groups for the Good Friday accord was secured by granting their prisoners early release.

In total 428 paramilitaries, including 143 prisoners serving life sentences for murder, were given early release from the Maze.

Included among these freed prisoners were two men, Alex Murphy and Harry Maguire, who were found guilty of murdering Corporals David Wood and Derek Howes on that terrifying day in March 1988.

With killers walking the streets once more, will the fight for justice — championed by families such as the McConvilles — ever been won?

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